Protective cap for radio-frequency connector and application method of protective cap

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a protective cap for a radio-frequency connector. The radio-frequency connector comprises a plug connecting piece and a socket connecting piece, wherein the protective cap can be removably mounted to the socket connecting piece for protection. The protective cap comprises a protection part structured to engage with the socket connecting piece and an inspection part structured to only allow a matched plug connecting piece to be inserted in. Hence, the inspection part can be used for inspecting the specific type of the plug connecting piece. The present invention further discloses an application method of the protective cap.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority from and the benefit of ChinesePatent Application No. 2015103453686, filed Jun. 19, 2015, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a protective cap for a radio-frequencyconnector and in particular relates to a protective cap for a small-Dintype (Mini-Din type) radio-frequency connector. The present inventionalso relates to an application method of the protective cap of the abovetype.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A radio-frequency device connector (radio-frequency connector) forcommunication equipment is an electromechanical component for connectinga conductor (wire) with an appropriate matched device so as to realizeconnection and disconnection of microwave signals. As an indispensablecomponent in a passive device, there can be varied forms and structuresof the radio-frequency connector, and various radio-frequency connectorsin different forms can be chosen according to different applicationobjects, frequencies, powers, application environments and the like.

In mobile communication engineering, two types of radio-frequencyconnectors, namely an N type radio-frequency connector and a Din typeradio-frequency connector, are frequently used, wherein the N typeradio-frequency connector is suitable for being used as a medium poweror low power coaxial cable connector with a threaded connectionmechanism. Compared with the N type radio-frequency connector, the Dintype radio-frequency connector is capable of bearing a higher inputpower, and thus is generally used in high-power application occasions,for instance, a radio-frequency output port of a “macro” base station.The Din type radio-frequency connector usually includes two parts,namely, a plug (male) connecting piece and a socket (female) connectingpiece.

A small-Din type radio-frequency connector, also called a Mini-Din typeconnector, is a frequently used Din type radio-frequency connector.According to different sizes of connecting interfaces, the small-Dintype radio-frequency connectors also can be divided into 4.1/9.5 typeand 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connectors.

The 4.1/9.5 type radio-frequency connector, which had been establishedas the standard (IEC60169-11) by the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC) in 1977, is a radio-frequency connector first developedand practically applied to a communication system, and is mainly used inbase station antennas.

In a mobile communication system, passive intermodulation (PIM) isgradually becoming a major reason of interference. PIM is produced whenpowers of radio-frequency signal with two or more frequenciessimultaneously appear in a passive device; such PIM is a mixed signalproduced due to a nonlinear characteristic of connection ofheterogeneous materials, wherein one representative mixed signal iscalled a third-order intermodulation signal. PIM may interfere with areceiver, and may enable the receiver to be unable to work normally in asevere case; hence, it is crucial to suppress intermodulationinterference.

With the development of the mobile communication technology, PIMperformance must pass increasingly high requirements. In 2014, the majorglobal radio-frequency connector manufacturers derived and developed anew small-Din type connector on the basis of the existing 4.1/9.5 typeconnector; the new small-Din type connector is named as the 4.3/10.0type connector and also applied to antennas.

Hence, during the upgrading of the existing antennas, the two small-Dintype connectors of different interfaces certainly may coexist for awhile. In a practical mounting process, as the two interfaces aresubstantially similar in shape, and particularly the plug (male)connecting pieces substantially have no difference in their shapes,mounting personnel is apt to confuse the connectors of the two ports andcarry out wrong mounting due to inaccurate distinguishment: namely, themounting personnel may assemble the 4.1/9.5 type plug (male) connectingpiece to the 4.3/10.0 type socket (female) connecting piece to causedamage to the port of the 4.3/10.0 type socket (female) connectingpiece, thereby leading to scrapping of an antenna.

SUMMARY

One purpose of embodiments of the present invention is to provide aprotective cap having an inspection function for a radio-frequencyconnector, and in particular to provide a protective cap having aninspection function for a small-Din type (Mini-Din type) radio-frequencyconnector; the protective cap is capable of enabling the mountingpersonnel to quickly distinguish which type of connector a jumper portoffers, and therefore, incorrect mounting and scrapping of products canbe avoided.

The protective cap of the present invention may not only have aconnector protecting function of a common protective cap but may alsohave a function of inspecting and distinguishing two or more types ofdifferent connector interfaces.

To achieve the above purpose, embodiments of the present invention aredirected to a protective cap for a radio-frequency connector. Theradio-frequency connector includes a plug connecting piece and a socketconnecting piece, and the protective cap can be removably mounted to thesocket connecting piece for protection. The protective cap ischaracterized by including: a protection part structured to engage withthe socket connecting piece; and an inspection part structured to onlyallow a matched plug connecting piece to be inserted in. Hence, theinspection part can be used for inspecting a specific type of the plugconnecting piece.

The radio-frequency connector may be a Mini-Din type radio-frequencyconnector.

The Mini-Din type radio-frequency connector may be a 4.1/9.5 type or4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector.

The inspection part may comprises a coaxial hollow cylinder area, andthe size of the hollow cylinder area may be selected to match with thesize of the matched plug connecting piece.

The protection part may be structured to be in threaded engagement withthe socket connecting piece.

The protective cap may be formed integrally by the protection part andthe inspection part.

The protective cap may be made of rigid plastic, such as PE, or a metal,such as copper or aluminum.

Embodiments of the invention are also directed to a radio-frequencyconnector, which includes a plug connecting piece and a socketconnecting piece and is characterized in that the above-mentionedprotective cap can be used for protecting the radio-frequency connector.

Embodiments of the invention are also directed to a method using theabove-mentioned protective cap with a radio-frequency connector,comprising the following steps: when an antenna leaves out of thefactory, the protective cap is mounted on a socket connecting piece of aradio-frequency connector at an antenna end; when the antenna ismounted, the mounting personnel carries out a matching judgment on thetype of a plug connecting piece of the radio-frequency connector byusing the protective cap, and only when the plug connecting piece can beinserted into the inspection part of the protective cap, the plugconnecting piece is the matched plug connecting piece that can becorrectly connected with the socket connecting piece; and after thematched plug connecting piece is judged, the protective cap is removedand then the antenna is further mounted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various goals, features and advantages of the present invention will bemore apparent by considering the following detailed descriptions ofpreferred embodiments thereof in combination with the accompanyingdrawings. The accompanying drawings are merely exemplary illustrationsof the present invention, and not certainly scaled. Same reference signsrepresent the same or similar components throughout the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a protective cap made of rigid plastic fora radio-frequency connector according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a protective cap made of a metal for aradio-frequency connector according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a socket connecting piece of the4.1/9.5 type radio-frequency connector, FIG. 3B is a schematic diagramof a plug connecting piece of the 4.1/9.5 type radio-frequencyconnector, FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram of a socket connecting pieceof the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector, and FIG. 3D is aschematic diagram of a plug connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a protective cap for protecting a socketconnecting piece of a 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a protective cap being matched with a plugconnecting piece of a 4.1/9.5 type radio-frequency connector.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a protective cap being matched with a plugconnecting piece of a 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of a protective cap having an inspection function for aradio-frequency connector according to the present invention aredescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. The descriptioncontents and the accompanying drawings are merely exemplary rather thanlimiting the protection scope of claims attached in any way.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms that areused in this disclosure have the same meaning as commonly understood byone of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Theterminology used in the below description is for the purpose ofdescribing particular embodiments only and is not intended to belimiting of the invention. As used in this disclosure, the singularforms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms aswell, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also beunderstood that when an element (e.g., an assembly, a housing, a cable,etc.) is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to anotherelement, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element orintervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element isreferred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” toanother element, there are no intervening elements present.

In the following descriptions of embodiments of the present invention,the protective cap is used for inspecting the adaptability of the4.1/9.5 type and 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connectors. However, itshould be appreciated that it is merely exemplary. Actually, theprotective cap for the radio-frequency connector according to thepresent invention is applicable to inspect and distinguish any tworadio-frequency connectors similar in shape but different in internalassembly structure.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the protective cap 1 having the inspectionfunction for the radio-frequency connector according to the presentinvention includes: a protection part 2 structured to engage with asocket connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector;and an inspection part 3 structured to only allow a plug connectingpiece of the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector to be insertedwithin. Hence, the inspection part 3 can be used for inspecting andjudging whether a plug connecting piece is the plug connecting piece ofthe 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector.

When the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector is mounted on anantenna, the port of the mounted radio-frequency connector is a 4.3/10.0type socket connecting piece and external threads thereof are standardM20*1.0 common threads. The protection part 2 of the protective cap 1 ofthe present invention contains a hollow cylinder area, and the size ofthe hollow cylinder area is set to match with the M20*1.0 standardexternal threads of the socket connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector. The inspection part 3 of the protective cap 1includes a coaxial hollow cylinder area, and the size of the hollowcylinder area of the inspection part 3 is set to match with the size ofthe plug connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequencyconnector. Specifically, the hollow cylinder of the inspection part 3has a length of 10.0 mm, an outer diameter of 11.30 mm and an inner holediameter of 4.5 mm.

The protective cap 1 may be made of rigid plastic, for example, PE, or ametal material, such as copper or aluminum. As shown in FIG. 1, when theprotective cap 1 is made of rigid plastic, an inner hole of thecylindrical hollow end of the protection part 2 is a smooth cylinder,and the diameter of the inner hole is slightly smaller than the diameterof the M20*1.0 standard external threads, such that the inner hole maydirectly sleeve the socket connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector in a close fit manner. As shown in FIG. 2,when the protective cap 1 is made of the metal material, the inner holeof the cylindrical hollow end of the protection part 2 is standardM20*1.0 common internal threads and can be directly matched with theexternal threads of the socket connecting piece of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of the socket connecting piece 4 of the4.1/9.5 type radio-frequency connector, FIG. 3B is a schematic diagramof the plug connecting piece 5 of the 4.1/9.5 type radio-frequencyconnector, FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram of the socket connecting piece6 of the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector, and FIG. 3D is aschematic diagram of the plug connecting piece 7 of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector. It can be seen from FIG. 3A and FIG. 3C thatthe socket connecting piece 4 of the 4.1/9.5 type radio-frequencyconnector and the socket connecting piece 6 of the 4.3/10.0 typeradio-frequency connector are easy to distinguish in shape, with atypical difference that the socket connecting piece 6 of the 4.3/10.0type radio-frequency connector is provided with an inner groovedportion; however, the plug connecting pieces 5 and 7 of the two typesare difficult to distinguish in shape with the naked eyes andsubstantially consistent with each other.

In practice that the socket connecting piece 4 of the 4.1/9.5 typeradio-frequency connector is only capable of matching with the 4.1/9.5type plug connecting piece 5, and the 4.3/10.0 type socket connectingpiece 6 is capable of matching with either the 4.3/10.0 type plugconnecting piece 7 or the 4.1/9.5 type plug connecting piece 5, but maycause damage to the inner grooved portion of the 4.3/10.0 type socketconnecting piece 6 after it is matched with the 4.1/9.5 type plugconnecting piece 5.

The problem can be addressed by using the protective cap 1 with theinspection function for the radio-frequency connector according to thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 5, when the protective cap 1 ismatched with the 4.1/9.5 type plug connecting piece 5, as the size ofthe head of the 4.1/9.5 type plug connecting piece 5 is smaller than thesize of the protective cap 1, the head is unable to be inserted into theprotective cap 1, and therefore, it may be judged as mismatching Asshown in FIG. 6, when the protective cap 1 is matched with the 4.3/10.0type plug connecting piece 7, as the size of the head of the 4.3/10.0type plug connecting piece 7 and the size of the protective cap 1 areconfigured such that the head is just able to go into the protective cap1, and therefore, it may be judged as matching.

An application method of the protective cap 1 comprises the followingsteps: as shown in FIG. 4, when an antenna exits the factory, theprotective cap 1 is mounted on the socket connecting piece 6 of the4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector at an antenna end; when theantenna is mounted, if the mounting personnel is unable to judge whichtype of radio-frequency connector the held plug connecting piece belongsto, the mounting personnel can carry out a matching judgment by usingthe protective cap 1 according to a judgment method as follows:

-   -   A. when the held plug connecting piece cannot be inserted into        the inspection part 3 of the protective cap 1, the held plug        connecting piece is the plug connecting piece 5 of the 4.1/9.5        type radio-frequency connector;    -   B. when the held plug connecting piece can be inserted into the        inspection part 3 of the protective cap 1, the held plug        connecting piece is the plug connecting piece 7 of the 4.3/10.0        type radio-frequency connector; After the plug connecting piece        7 of the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector is identified,        the protective cap 1 can be removed and then the antenna is        further mounted.

The protective cap 1 with the inspection function for theradio-frequency connector according to the above embodiments of thepresent invention is capable of providing the mounting operationpersonnel with a rapid and effective inspection/distinguishing toolaiming at the 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connectors, thereby avoidingproduct damage due to incorrect matching; in short, the protective cap 1has an actual effective practical significance.

In the disclosure of the present invention with reference to someembodiments, various modifications and alterations can be made to theembodiments without departing from the range and scope of the presentinvention. Hence, it should be appreciated that the present invention isnot limited to the described embodiments and the protection scope of thepresent invention should be defined by the contents of claims attachedand equivalent structures and solutions thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A protective cap for a radio-frequencyconnector, wherein the radio-frequency connector includes a plugconnecting piece and a socket connecting piece, the protective cap beingremovably mountable to the socket connecting piece for protection, theprotective cap comprising: a protection part structured to engage withthe socket connecting piece; and an inspection part structured to onlyallow a matched plug connecting piece to be inserted thereinin.
 2. Theprotective cap of claim 1, wherein the radio-frequency connector is aMini-Din type radio-frequency connector.
 3. The protective cap of claim2, wherein the Mini-Din type radio-frequency connector is a 4.1/9.5 typeor 4.3/10.0 type radio-frequency connector.
 4. The protective cap ofclaim 1, wherein the inspection part comprises a coaxial hollow cylinderarea, and the size of the hollow cylinder area is set to match with thesize of the matched plug connecting piece.
 5. The protective cap ofclaim 1, wherein the protection part is structured to be in threadedengagement with the socket connecting piece.
 6. The protective cap ofclaim 1, wherein the protective cap is formed integrally by theprotection part and the inspection part.
 7. The protective cap of claim1, wherein the protective cap is made of rigid plastic or a metal. 8.The protective cap of claim 7, wherein the rigid plastics refer to a PEmaterial, and the metal is copper or aluminum.
 9. A radio-frequencyconnector, comprising a plug connecting piece and a socket connectingpiece inc combination with the protective cap of claim 1 to protect theradio-frequency connector.
 10. A method of applying the protective capof claim 1 comprising the following steps: when an antenna exits afactory, the protective cap is mounted on a socket connecting piece of aradio-frequency connector at an antenna end; when the antenna ismounted, the mounting personnel carries out a matching judgment on thetype of a plug connecting piece of the radio-frequency connector byusing the protective cap, and only when the plug connecting piece can beinserted into the inspection part of the protective cap, the plugconnecting piece is the matched plug connecting piece which can becorrectly connected with the socket connecting piece; and after thematched plug connecting piece is judged, the protective cap is removedand then the antenna is further mounted.
 11. A radio frequency socket,comprising: a center contact; an outer conductor body; a spring basketwith a plurality of fingers located between the center contact and theouter conductor body; wherein the center conductor, the outer conductorbody and the spring basket conform to the requirements of IEC 4.3/10;and a protective cap fitted over the outer conductor body, the capincluding a cylindrical inspection portion, the inspection portion sizedto fit within a mating 4.3/10 plug but not fit within a 4.1/9.5 plug.12. The radio frequency socket defined in claim 11, wherein theinspection portion has an outer diameter of 11.3 mm.
 13. The radiofrequency socket defined in claim 12, wherein the inspection portion hasan inner diameter of 4.5 mm.
 14. The radio frequency socket defined inclaim 13, wherein the inspection portion has a length of 10 mm.
 15. Amethod of interconnecting a 4.3/10 interface, comprising the steps of:providing a 4.3/10 radio frequency socket defined in claim 11; (b)engaging the inspection portion of the cap with a radio frequency plugto attempt to insert the plug onto the cap; (c) if the inspectionportion of the cap fits within the plug upon attempted insertion,removing the cap from the socket and interconnecting the plug with thesocket; or (d) if the inspection portion of the cap does not fit withinthe plug upon attempted insertion, retaining the cap on the socket.